Help employees move to the top of your organization. (Research Update).

Many park and recreation organizations and professionals are looking for answers to a simple question: How do recreation professionals develop the skills that move them to the top of their organizations? After all, while it's well known that training and job challenge are crucial to developing park and recreation professionals, our knowledge of what experiences matter, why they matter and what people get out of them is scant.

Job-related experiences have long been a powerful source of learning for leaders in the field of parks and recreation. Approximately 70 percent of all development occurs through on-the-job experience, whereas training provides less than 10 percent of a manager's development (McCauley & Brutus, 1998). On-the-job experiences are a primary link to managerial learning, growth and change (Kolb, 1984). McCauley and Brutus (1998) suggest that managerial learning is an active process that is highly dependent on a manager's initiative, interpretation of situations, powers of observation and ability to reflect. Unfortunately, there are few times when leaders and professionals in our field are asked to revisit, reflect on and share significant work experiences.

What We Know About Career Development in Parks and Recreation

McCall, Lombardo and Morrison (1988) asked corporate professionals to identify three key events or experiences that affected their careers. Key events and experiences identified by the managers covered three categories: assignments, other people and hardships. In addition, the researchers identified types of developmental assignments that were essential to the managers' careers. These included first supervisory jobs, early work experiences, a change from a line job to a staff job, ability to handle projects and starting a task or project from scratch.

Knapp (2000) conducted a similar study among park and recreation leaders. She identified five categories of developmental career experiences: exposure to challenges, networking opportunities and involvement in professional organizations, building a sense of community, job assignments and interaction with mentors and bosses.

Exposure to Challenges

Challenge in the workplace means that there's a gap between what an individual can and needs to do to succeed in work situations (Wick, 1988). Lombardo and Eichinger (1989) suggest that various challenge components can be added to nearly all jobs. With the flattening of organizations and the increase in downsizing, cross-training and job enrichment for developmental purposes are likely to become necessities. Park and recreation leaders have indicated that work-related challenges take many forms (Knapp, 2000). Challenges may arise from interacting and working with new people, both from within and outside of the organization.

Influencing people and groups is also a challenging work-related task for park and recreation leaders. Similarly, building a team or task force, starting something from the ground up, or fixing or turning around a program (or team) that's in trouble can provide important developmental opportunities. Finally, relationships with exceptionally good or bad bosses were cited as relevant learning experiences. Most of these challenges occur naturally within the workplace, but they can also be experienced by adding specific assignments and duties to employees interested in furthering their careers.

Networking Opportunities and Involvement

Individuals are surrounded in an interpersonal network, and social psychologists have placed great importance on these relationships for learning and development (Storr, 1963). Networking is often referred to as developing and maintaining a system of professional contacts. The goal of a professional network is to build connections aimed at enriching one's career. Networking experiences may be the result of experiences related to events occurring within the professional's community, those occurring at state, regional or national professional conferences, or actions taken by others on behalf of the individual. Through networking, professionals have gained valuable input and advice from peers and mentors, and have built and maintained new professional relationships.

Within the field of parks and recreation, many networks are forged through involvement in professional organizations. These organizations represent the profession, serve as advocates for its services and improve the standards of those who practice and identify with the profession.

Building a Sense of Community

Owing to the nature of the public parks and recreation profession, leaders often partner and collaborate with other public service and community organizations. Professionals in the field identified intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction that came from giving back to the community or fulfilling personal values (Knapp, 2000). Parks and recreation professionals who are involved in their communities are usually required to build relationships with other organizations and agencies. Examples include joining community service groups, working with city officials and the school system, and seeking input and advice from citizens. Several of the park and recreation professionals interviewed for the authors' study identified their desire to give back to their communities, passion for the profession, positive feedback and a sense of accomplishment that helped build their attachment to their community (Knapp, 2000).

Job Assignments

Job assignments are a strong source of learning for professionals (McCauley, 1986). Morrison and Hock (1986) suggest that work experiences obtained from various assignments within an organization need to be assessed and used as part of a long-term career development plan. Specific job assignments can be effective tools in moving promising professionals into the executive ranks. Developmental experiences based on experiential learning can be broken into a variety of assignments, such as turnaround, starting from scratch and special projects/task forces (White, 1992). Leadership experiences early in a career, and jobs with broad responsibility, make different demands on professionals and force them to learn new skills in order to succeed. While it is evident that managers need work assignments that will challenge them and provide them with a wider perspective, the current literature reveals little about what could be learned by managers from specific types of job assignments. Learning from work-related experiences can offer great developmental potential; so can the opportunity to work with others.

Interaction with Mentors and Bosses

Relationships at work are particularly relevant to professionals in parks and recreation because they spend the majority of time in contact with other people. Work-related mentors (including bosses) are often regarded as having the ability to contribute to workers' development.

Supportive relationships with mentors provide new professionals with opportunities to gain career guidance, organizational support and develop mental opportunities. In some instances, negative mentoring can occur if the mentor falls from favor in the organization, or if the new professional becomes so reliant on the mentor that he or she can't make independent decisions (McCall & Lombardo, 1983).

Even if a manager's boss doesn't act as a mentor, the manager's relationship with his or her boss is important in career advancement and development. In the authors' study, park and recreation professionals indicated that liking their boss, supporting their boss and making their boss look good all helped their early careers (Knapp, 2000). In addition, working for a successful and recognized boss also provided visibility to top leaders in the field of parks and recreation.

Implications for Recreation Professionals and Organizations

Parks and recreation organizations must move towards enriching jobs and empowering new professionals. The problem with learning from work experiences is that, unlike formal classroom instruction, there is no lesson plan and few guideposts. Research suggests that recreation professionals and departments should identify developmental jobs that feature experiences associated with career advancement. Developing job assignments that are challenging for new professionals in parks and recreation is important. This goal can be achieved by giving new professionals the opportunity to influence people and groups, activities and factors over which they previously had no direct authority or control over.

It's also important to create opportunities for networking and involvement in professional organizations. Recreation departments that expose their professionals to training opportunities give their workers the valuable experience of establishing a network of outside contacts. These networking experiences allow individuals to share information, knowledge and perspectives related to the profession. A necessary component of creating challenging work experiences for parks and recreation professionals involves taking responsibility for the development process by addressing issues of interacting and working with the local community. This goal can be achieved through participation with community service groups, city officials, public service organizations and the local school system.

Finally, helping professionals learn from experience through their interaction with mentors is a necessary component of professional development. Formalized and informal mentorship programs are being used as training and development tools for upwardly mobile professionals in some organizations. These programs attempt to use the knowledge, skills and insights that experienced professionals can pass on to rookie managers. Mentoring relationships have helped new managers to learn the ropes of organizational life and advance their careers. In addition, mentors assist new professionals in developing a sense of competence, confidence and effectiveness in a new managerial role.

In conclusion, park and recreation departments that value providing growth opportunities for new professionals can increase the development potential of these workers by incorporating specific experiences and assignments into their existing jobs. Including the five recommended career development components into all jobs requires dedication, planning and upfront work. However, the potential growth and empowerment opportunities for new professionals will be well worth the effort.

References

Knapp, J. S. (2000). Leadership development: Marker events and experiences of leaders in local public parks and recreation. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Indiana University.

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Lombardo, M., & Eichinger, R. (1989). Eighty-eight assignments for development in place: Enhancing the developmental challenge of existing jobs. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

McCall, M.W., & Lombardo, M. (1983). Off the track: Why and how successful executives get derailed (Technical Report No. 21). Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

McCall, M.W., Lombardo, M. M., & Morrison, A. M. (1988). The lessons of experience: How successful executives develop on the job. Lexington, MA: Lexington.

McCauley, C. D. (1986). Developmental experiences in managerial work: A literature review (Technical Report No. 26). Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

McCauley, C. D., & Brutus, S. (1998). Management development through job experiences. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

Morrison, R., & Hock, R. (1986). Career building: Learning from cumulative work experience. In D. T. Hall (Ed.), Career development in organizations. (pp. 236-273). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Storr, A. (1963). The integrity of the personality. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Wick, C. (1989). How people develop: An in-depth look. HR Reporter, 6, 1-3.

RELATED ARTICLE: Research into action: each one teach one.

Park and recreation department leaders need to establish and reinforce the importance of developing new professionals. To create opportunities for the best and brightest in our field, new professionals need to experience the important developmental career components related to mentoring, networking, involvement in professional organizations, exposure to challenging job assignments and involvement in their communities. Opportunities should be consciously created for new professionals to analyze, interpret and reflect on the important career experiences that assist in their professional growth and development.

How to Use this Information

Mentoring programs are critical to a new professional's success. Leaders in our field need to partner with university and college programs to establish early mentorship programs to foster lasting mentor relationships for new professionals entering the field.

New professionals within the field can seek informal mentoring relationships through their involvement on the state and national level by attending conferences and workshops and serving on committees.

Chairpersons of task forces, boards and committees should actively seek new professionals to serve. This outreach will not only help new professionals, but will also bring fresh ideas to the organizations.

State associations, national associations and local departments need to facilitate networking and mentorship opportunities through continued efforts such as take-a-student-to-lunch activities. While these programs are typically targeted towards college students, new attempts to create similar types of experiences for entry-level professionals in the field are needed.

Formalized networking activities that pair new professionals with seasoned park and recreation leaders are needed. Facilitating relationships between persons of varied ages, races, genders and ethnicity can serve to improve informal networks and opportunities for all employees.

Building positive relationships and partnerships with other community service organizations is essential to fostering a positive image for the park and recreation department and its leaders. New professionals should be encouraged to serve on community service organization committees and boards. These experiences will allow new professionals to meet community leaders and spread the positive attributes of parks and recreation.

Creating new and challenging job assignments that exceed the new professional's skill base not only lets the individual assume some risk of failure but also empowers the new professional to stretch his or her development potential.

Julie Knapp is a part-time assistant professor in the Recreation and Park Administration Department at Indiana University. Her research interests include recreation management, administration and leadership issues, and youth programming. Daniel McLean is associate professor and chair in the Department of Recreation and Sport Management at Indiana State University.

Research Update is edited by Cheryl A. Estes, Ph.D., assistant professor in recreation and leisure studies at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.